


Me Again

by Boat_dock



Category: Legacies (TV 2018), The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, Hosie, Hurt/Comfort, body jumping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:07:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24712096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boat_dock/pseuds/Boat_dock
Summary: After Hope gets trapped in Josie's mind and they are unable to wake her Alaric does the only reasonable thing and calls her family. They have a simple solution, stick Hope in another body until they can figure out how to revive her original body. What's the worst that could happen?
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 5
Kudos: 171





	1. Chapter 1

The rumors spread like wildfire throughout the school the moment that the Mikaelsons set foot on campus carrying a coffin. Josie heard the news within 5 minutes and in 7 she was running through the halls towards her father’s office, the super squad hot on her trail. The door was locked which normally wouldn’t have been a problem, she would have used her magic to open the door, but she didn’t have it anymore. She felt like she was missing a limb sometimes, but maybe she needed to figure out who she was without magic to learn who she was with it. 

Lizzie opened the door. It basically flew off its hinges, revealing the room packed with Hope’s assorted family members, some Josie recognized and some she didn’t, but the elephant in the large wooden box polished to a shine, with an ornate M carved on the top sitting where her dad’s desk should be. She didn’t have time to contemplate where the desk went.

Josie’s emotions got the better of her as she rushed into the room and she blurted out, ” Hope isn’t dead she’s just asleep,” the thought of Hope in that coffin made her sick to her stomach, especially since it was all her fault. The guilt stopped her from sleeping at night, it also managed to stop her from getting out of bed most days, which just left her with a lot of time to think. “ please don’t do this,” her voice was shaking and for a moment she feared showing this much weakness in a room filled with the most vicious creatures to ever walk the earth, but she couldn’t stop herself. 

“We know that Josie,” Freya answered, being the only Mikaelson in the room that knew her personally,” but you have to trust us. We would never do anything to hurt her.” Josie knew she was right. 

“Kids you need to let us handle this,” her dad said, in an entitled voice, like he’s forgotten just who’d been the ones protecting the school and fending off all the monsters, and surprise it wasn’t the adults. “Please give us the room,” 

“No way, if this is about Hope we have a right to be here too,” Landon spoke up and they all pushed further in the room, shutting the door behind themselves. 

“Let the kids stay Ric, they obviously care about her too and what’s the harm,” Josie didn’t recognize the man who spoke up for them but he had his arm around Rebekah so if she had to make a guess she’d say he was Marcel. 

Her dad looked like he wanted to push this but Freya spoke up before he could,” Let’s get started. Where’s my niece Alaric?” as he moved to open the bookcase and get a still unconscious Hope, Freya turned to talk to the pretty brunette, small in stature, standing next to the coffin,” Davina will you prep the body?” 

Much to everyone’s surprise, the coffin wasn’t empty, inside lay an unconscious young girl with dark skin, dressed in clothes from an era that Josie couldn’t place but she knew it definitely wasn’t recent. Kol removed her from the coffin like she weighed nothing and laid her on the ground. Davina lowered herself so she was kneeling by the body, and placed her hands on the girl’s temple. She closed her eyes and started muttering to herself. 

Her dad appeared with Hope in his arms but she was quickly taken by Rebekah and placed in the coffin. She closed the bottom half so only Hope’s face was visible, and she started murmuring,” Don’t you worry about a thing now darling, you are going to be just fine,” she touched Hope’s hair lightly,” and this old box is much comfier than it looks I promise, very spacious.” she was laughing slightly now, and Josie couldn’t understand how. Here she was  putting her niece into a coffin because no one could figure out how to wake her up and she was laughing. 

“You can’t just do this,” Landon spoke up, his entire body was tense, clearly distressed by the sight of his girlfriend like this, and Josie couldn’t really blame him. “She doesn’t need to go into that box, we can help her, we can wake her up,” he was close to screaming now and had definitely caught the attention of all of her family members. 

It seemed like none of them were going to answer him so apparently, Mg took that as his queue to talk,” so I think we’re all ignoring a very important thing here. Is Hope British?” Josie slumped against her sister, this was all too much. 

Lizzie seemed to be thinking the same thing,” Oh my god someone hit him for me,” she growled. Kaleb was more than happy to oblige by giving Mg an annoyed smack to the back of the head. Kol was laughing to himself but Rebekah didn’t find it nearly as amusing. 

“I’ve been called many things in my life but a Brit!” she exclaimed making a face,” I should eat him for that,” 

“Peace sister,” Freya interrupted, she was lighting sage and waving it over the body of the unknown girl,” These children know not what they say,” she and Davina were prepping the body, but for what? How could this random girl help wake Hope up? Freya has a thousand years of acquired knowledge and power if anyone can figure out how to wake up Hope it would be her. 

While Josie’s mind was spinning trying to figure out the Mikaelsons plan, her friends seemed to be stuck on the whole European accent thing. “Where are you from then?” Raphael asked. 

“Everyone just be quiet please,” Lizzie hissed. 

“We’re from Mystic Falls,” Kol answered. That wasn’t news to either of the twins, they’d grown up on the stories of this town, watered down of course, but as they grew they figured it out for themselves. However, Kol must have noticed the shocked looks on the other’s faces,” I thought you were supposed to be teaching these kids Ric. I guess they’re failing history class,”

“We’re ready,” Freya stated standing, effectively ending the conversation. Josie leaned forward in her seat. Her heart was in her throat, this was on her, whatever happened to Hope was on her shoulders. Hope was in this state because she was trying to save Josie, from herself, from all the black magic she’d consumed and Josie had done this to her. Some dark alternate version of herself, but still her. 

Davina moved to the far side of the room to stand by Marcel, leaving Freya alone to do the spell. She placed her fingers on Hope’s temple and began chanting, Josie didn’t recognize the spell, which was strange once you’ve learned the basics you can recognize them in most spells. She could pick up bits and pieces of words that she recognized, but none of these words were familiar to her. What kind of magic was this?

The body of the ground seized, and then sat upright, eyes flying open in panic and confusion. All of her friends shuffled around her, muttering and watching this new player in their strange game of chess. “What’s going on?” she gasped looking around at all the people around her,” Aunt Freya?”

“I’m right here sweetie, just breathe,” Josie’s heart beat out of her chest, and she brought her hand to her mouth as the realization of what had happened washed over her. “You’re going to be a little disoriented for a while but it will get better,” 

“I don’t understand. What’s going-” Hope stopped mid-sentence as she saw her body in the coffin. She scrambled back, sliding on the ground away from her body and her family. Josie could only imagine how strange this all was for her,” What the hell is this?” she screamed. 

Hope lifted her new arm up into her line of sight and examined it. Her fear seeped out of her as the pieces clicked together in her mind. “Your body is compromised, Hope, so we put you into this one until we can figure out how to wake you up,” Rebekah said and Hope sucked in a deep breath, before picking herself off the ground and going to the mirror. For a body that wasn’t Hope's, the look on her face was Hope to a T, concerned but curious and somehow completely pissed at the same time. 

She paused for a moment examining her face and her hair,” we can’t just do this. I can’t just take over this woman’s body. What’s going to happen to her?” Hope exclaimed, unlike the rest of her family she was not ok with living inside someone else’s head. 

“She’s completely safe, her mind has been tucked away and when we get you back in your body she will go back to normal.” 

“Trust us, Hope,” Marcel started with a grin,” this is much better for her than where she was before,” Josie wasn’t sure what he meant but she didn’t like the way he said that. But by the look on her face, Hope had figured out whatever he was trying to imply. Instead of confronting whatever was going, Hope turned back to the mirror and brought her hand to her teeth. Her back was to Josie, so she couldn’t see what Hope was trying to do. 

After a moment she was satisfied and turned back, now ready to pick a fight,” Please- please tell me you didn’t dig this woman up from the garden and stick me in her body,” Hope was trying her best not to scream, she was physically shaking as she spoke. Josie’s mind spun, everything they said went over her head but she imagined that was a good thing. The silence that followed was the only answer Hope needed,” Oh god I’m in the body of a criminal,” 

Hope wrapped her arms around herself, making herself smaller. “She’s not a criminal, she was a scapegoat for a family of criminals,” he said it so nonchalantly like it didn’t matter. 

“That’s horrible,” Hope exclaimed.

“That’s politics,” Marcel responded,” but once you’re out of her head, her sentence is over and she’s a free vampire again,” 

A lady Josie hadn't even noticed standing in the corner spoke up for the first time,” Besides, you’ll like this more than the other option, one of the crescent wolves volunteered,” 

Hope paled and her eyes widened, “You’re right Keelin I do prefer this plan,” things settled after that, everyone started cleaning up and preparing the coffin for travel. The super squad stayed pushed back into the corner, staring at Hope like she was the new monster they needed to fight. Hope turned from them, refusing to meet their eyes. Josie’s heart hurt, this was all her fault and Hope was suffering the consequences right now. 

After everything was ready to go, Freya turned back to her niece,” It’s time to go now sweetie,” the way she said it implied that Hope was leaving with them. Hope made a face, she didn’t like this suggestion either.

“Wait- wait I’m not going with you, not right now,” Hope stammered. The room was tense, it was Hope’s will against her family’s and Josie couldn’t imagine the fallout. The Mikaelsons all exchanged glances like they knew this was coming. 

Freya sighed, resigned, and Kol looked like we wanted to say I told you so,” We figured that’s what you’d say love, so you can stay but under one condition.” 

“And what’s that?” Hope asked. 

“Absolutely no monster hunting,” Rebekah answered, crossing her arms.

Hope surged forward, upset,” No that’s not fair, I have to protect this school” she waved her arms motioning to everything around her desperately. 

“That is not your responsibility Hope,” Freya said,” and besides if something were to happen and this body died, the owner would die and you would get sent back to you’re original body,” 

It was Hope’s turn to be resigned. Her aunt made a good point, she lost half of her defenses and the one she still had she had no clue how to use. She was effectively a baby vamp. The school lost its best defender too, they would have to learn to handle the monsters without her. Without Josie too, Hope always told her that Josie was stronger than she knew but right now her magic was just too unstable, she was too unstable. Leaving the school undefended was just another thing Josie could add to her guilt list. 

Hope’s family left after a long goodbye filled with hugs leaving them all alone in her dad’s office. For the first time Hope turned to face her friends, she wouldn’t meet their eyes. She curled in on herself, making herself smaller, it was the smallest Josie had ever seen Hope look, which was strange considering that this new body was taller than Hope ever could be. 

Josie wanted to go to Hope and take away all the sadness and discomfort in her eyes, but Landon spoke up before she could,” Will someone tell me what the hell just happened,” he yelled. His words shocked Josie but they made Hope shrink into herself even more. How could he do that, couldn’t he see how shaken she was right now. Him yelling would only make this worse. 

Hope turned and ran from the room, barely stopping the tears from rolling down her cheeks. Josie remembered all the hurt Hope had been through as a child, how she dealt with it all alone, choosing to push people away instead of letting them in. Josie couldn’t let that happen again after all Hope had done for her, she couldn’t let her go through this alone. So she followed her from the room, leaving everyone dumbfounded, hopefully, her dad could explain everything, but right now Josie didn’t need to know the logistics she just needed to know that Hope was ok.

Hope was much faster than she used to be, she disappeared quickly and Josie went all the way to her room without ever catching sight of her. Hope’s door was closed but unlocked, so when Hope didn’t answer Josie let herself in. Hope sat with her back turned on the bed, she’d changed from her period clothing into comfy clothes that suggested that even though it was still early in the morning Hope had no plans of leaving her room.

“Hey, are you ok?” Josie asked slowly making her way across the room. 

Hope turned to her putting on a good face,” I feel like I should be asking you that,” she joked lightly.

“I’m serious Hope, “ she pushed, stopping a few feet away from the bed,” It doesn’t take a genius to tell you’re upset,” 

“I’ll be fine,” Hope said, finally turning to face her, her face softened when she saw Josie. She sighed,” Come here Jo, you look like someone just kicked your puppy,”

She wanted to laugh but she just didn’t have it in her, instead, she just moved and sat across from Hope. “I’m so sorry Hope, this is all my fault,” the words spilled out of her. She’d been carrying this guilt for so long, she just needed her to know, not that an apology would make this any better. 

“It’s ok Jo, I knew what I was getting myself into when I went inside your head,” she shrugged her shoulders and met Josie with a soft smile.

Josie scoffed, unable to believe what she was hearing,” You can’t just do that, forgive me, I don’t deserve it,” 

“Then it’s a good thing that you don’t get to chose when you’re forgiven,” 

She reached and grabbed Josie’s hands in her own, trying to make her feel better, but Josie couldn’t handle it. She pulled away and made to leave,” I better go, I’m sure you want to be alone,” 

She was halfway to the door, desperate to get back to her room and hide back under her covers, letting herself drown in her guilt again, but Hope seemed to have a different plan,” Are you planning on going to class today?”

“No,” Josie whispered. Truth be told she hadn’t been to class since she became herself again. 

“Well then why don’t you stay here with me,” she asked,” we don’t have to talk or anything. I just have the feeling that neither of us should be alone right now.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Landon was never able to look Hope in the eyes. A week in he said he needed space, and three days into that she broke up with him. Hope wasn’t going to be with someone who didn’t want to be with her, no matter how much they used to love each other. That didn’t make it hurt any less, Hope walked aimlessly down the hallway fighting back tears, determined to keep her head held high. She was Hope Mikaelson and she could handle a breakup, she’d been through so much worse.

She ended up outside the twins’ room, their door was slightly ajar and she could hear them talking inside. After stopping herself from turning and leaving, Hope pushed the door open, deciding that she needed her friends right now. Josie met her with a small smile which quickly faded when she saw the look on Hope’s face,” Hey what’s wrong?” she asked worried, moving to make room for Hope on the bed. Looking equally worried, Lizzie came from where she was sitting at her desk to join them.

After settling into Josie’s bed Hope waited a moment just enjoying her friends’ presence, before telling them what happened,” We broke up,” she mumbled, staring at the wall. Both of the twins tense next to her. After everything that had happened between her and Landon, they were the couple of the school, everyone expected them to be together forever. She thought it herself for a period of time, but situations change and people change.

“What happened?” Josie asked softly, gripping Hope’s hand in her own with her eyebrows scrunched together.

Unsure of how to respond, she joked,” I guess me not being in my body is kind of a deal-breaker.” 

“He did not dump you!” Lizzie gasped sitting up straight and looking completely dumbfounded. She could practically hear all the names running through Lizzie’s head that she was going to call Landon the next time she saw him.

Hope laughed bitterly,” No I dumped him,” she admitted, sinking deeper into the bed like it could swallow her whole. They sat in silence, or what Hope considers silence which means Lizzie was probably talking but she wasn’t really paying attention. Her mind spiraled, replaying every moment she and Landon spent together, all the times he said that no matter what he would always fight to be with her. She stopped and looked at Josie, meeting her large dark sad eyes,” How did this happen to both of us Jo?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Josie responded sincerely, before getting a sneaky look in her eyes,” but you know what that means,” no Hope did not know what it meant,” It’s Lizzie’s turn now,” she grinned. A laugh bubbled in Hope’s chest which spilled out when she saw the look on the blonde’s face. It was a bright and genuine laugh, that had her holding her sides.

“In his dreams,” Lizzie spits, rolling her eyes at her sister’s insinuation.

Hope couldn’t stop laughing still, the thought of Landon and Lizzie was so absurd and would crash and burn so quickly and violently that it would be amazing to watch. When she finally calmed down she sighed,” I needed that,”

The moment was ruined by Lizzie’s phone vibrating in her pocket. With a quick glance, her eyes widened and she got up to head toward the door. She was moving quickly and in a way that suggested she didn’t want them to ask where she was going, so of course, Hope had to ask,” Where are you going? What’s going on?”

Lizzie froze, a look of guilt passed over her face and for a second Hope thought that she might actually lie to them,” Um.. it’s- there’s,” Hope raised her eyebrows as the girl fumbled all over herself. Lizzie groaned, resigned after she realized that there was no point on lying to them,” there’s a monster sighting in the woods,” 

“What is it?” Josie asked, leaning forward.

“ No clue yet, but you two aren’t allowed anywhere near it,” she said before quickly leaving the room. She was right, Hope was more vulnerable in this body than she’d ever been before, not counting the entire other person in there with her and Josie without magic is as good as a human. Them going out to face a monster was completely dumb and reckless and Hope’s entire body was screaming at her to go anyway.

Her inner turmoil must have been more visible than she thought because Josie read her like a book,” You can’t Hope,” she said.

“I know,” she growled, running her hands through her hair, it was courser now than her actual hair. This whole body was foreign and strange, she was a parasite living inside it and she and the original owner were suffering because of it. She couldn’t just sit here while her friends were out risking their lives, to defend the school and the town, she couldn’t. She needed to distract herself,” But if I just sit here while they fight I’m either going to go crazy or I’m going to go help, so come on let’s ditch and go to town.”  
Whatever happiness Josie had experienced earlier while joking about Landon and Lizzie had disappeared and her usual guilt had taken its place. “ Sorry, but I don’t think I’m up for it today,” that was her answer to everything these days, that wasn’t going to class or staying in her room.

Hope closed her eyes and sighed, trying to find a way to snap the siphoner out of it, “ Don’t do this Jo,” she said. Hope better than anyone understood what she was going through, the weight of the guilty, and how easy it was to let yourself drown in it,” Look I know what you’re going through ok, I do, but shutting down isn’t going to make it any better.” 

“ It’s not that simple Hope,” Josie said, turning in on herself.

“ You don’t think I know that,” Hope’s temper was starting to get the better of her, “ and I’m not going to sit here and tell you that it’s not your fault because it is, you made a bad decision. But Jo, everyone makes bad decisions, you saw what happened to me when I was younger and I let the guilt run my life, but I don’t want that for you. Do better than me Josie.” 

“ How? How am I supposed to live with myself?” she asked.

Hope hadn’t really figured that out for herself yet, but she had to give Josie hopf fot the future. Things would get better, “ Every day you try and do better, even when it feels impossible,” she moved closer to Josie trying to make her words sink in, “ and today to do that you’re going to start with a shower, then the both of us are going to get dressed and go out to town, to shop or see a movie, or eat, or do literally whatever we want to do. Because if I just sit here I’m going to lose it,” she didn’t argue, in fact, Hope might even say that she looked excited.

While she was showering Hope picked her out an outfit, it was a purple sundress with little white polka dots on it and cap sleeves. She left it lying out on her bed and went to get ready herself. Around 30 minutes later Hope was ready and walking back to the twins’ room, she was wearing a maroon (her classic color) dress that flared out at her waist with a belt and her favorite high heel booties that used to make her feel taller than she actually was.

Josie was dressed and drying her hair at her vanity, she noticed Hope in her mirror and spoke, “ Why am I wearing a dress? I get that getting me out of my room is an accomplishment but this seems like overkill.” 

Hope chuckled, happy that despite everything the younger girl was going through she was still able to crack jokes, “ We are dressing up because I just broke up with my boyfriend,”

“That’s a valid reason,” Josie answered, starting to do her makeup. Hope made herself comfortable on the bed, absentmindedly flipping through a book that was sitting on the nightstand. Instead of reading, she was not so subtly watching Josie, she didn’t really mean to but something about the younger girl fascinated her. She was able for a while to say that it was because they were best friends, Hope had never had a friend like this before Josie so she didn’t really have anything to compare it to. But now without Landon, she was looking at Josie in a new light, she noticed the way she always felt better when Josie grabbed her hand, how they always took care of each other even when everyone else thought they were lost causes.

Her confusion spread across her face, could she like Josie as more than a friend, she had before, but now she had so much more to lose. Jose snapped her out of her head, somehow Hope had completely missed her moving all the way across the room to stand next to her, “ Hey, are you ready to go?” 

“ Yeah sorry I was just in my head,” 

They gracefully avoided everyone they knew as they left the school and climbed into Hope’s car. Gunning it out of the gates, she rolled the windows down to feel the wind on her face, refreshing and free, she pushed all thoughts from her mind that weren’t about shopping and having an impromptu photoshoot in the park. Normal teenage girl things. Maybe she could forget that she wasn’t in her own body or that she was probably developing feelings for her best friend who was sitting in the passenger seat.

“Where did you get this car?” Josie asked, running her hands over the expensive leather that coated the interior.

Memories of driving this car with Elijah pushed forward and a small smile snuck onto her face, “ it was my uncle’s, he left it for me when he died, I was too young at the time so my uncle Kol kept it for me, but I think he forgot about it till recently.” 

Josie scoffed, “ Your uncle just left you a Bently, god sometimes I forget how loaded your family is,” They arrived in Mystic falls but Hope just kept driving, letting the town disappear in the rearview mirrors. “ Where are we going?” 

“ This town’s too small,” she stated plainly,” there’s not enough here, but there’s a big mall a few towns over.” Josie’s face lit up, she obviously knew where Hope was talking about.

“Oh, I haven’t been there in so long!”   
“ Time to put some of my family’s money to good use,” she laughs, shooting a smirk at the brunette on instinct. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw color spread across Josie’s cheeks.

The mall was filled with people, which was unsurprising for a Saturday at noon, but it felt like it was just the two of them. They spent to whole day running around the mall, trying on and buying anything they wanted, at the beginning, Josie would let Hope buy her things whether it was pride or guilt Hope wasn’t sure, but there were a few pieces that were so beautiful, Josie’s whole face lit up when she tried them on, so Hope insisted. The majority of the day was spent  shopping for Hope, new shirts, pants, shoes, some jewelry, she normally didn’t like to be this crass with her money but very few of her old clothes fit this body.

Hours later, they crashed on a bench in a pile of bags, stuffing their faces with greasy food court food. While the food filled her stomach a different kind of hunger began to coarse through her, she’d handled being a vampire fairly well over the past few weeks, but she’d skipped her morning blood bag. She fought back the hunger and forced herself to focus on something else, the smell of the burger, the way Josie’s hair was falling in front of her eyes, anything but the fact that she could hear the heartbeats of every person in that mall. Josie finished off the last of her milkshake and then started laughing, shaking her head, “ god we have so many bags,” she giggled looking through them all, “ why did you need so many new clothes?” 

“ Well I can’t really keep wearing my old clothes, they don’t fit,” she scoffed motioning to herself,” My body is shorter and curvier than this one.” 

“Yeah, I noticed,” Josie replied without thinking, then her cheeks reddened. Once again Hope threw her a classic Mikaelson smirk.

“Now does that imply that you’ve been checking out this body or my original one,” she purred, enjoying the reaction of the younger girl. For a moment they just looked at each other, drowning in each other’s eyes, despite everything Hope found herself leaning in closer till she could feel Josie’s breath. It would be so simple to kiss her, everything in her was screaming to. Josie’s heartbeat picked up, it was like a drum in her ears, pounding away at every inch of self-control that Hope had till all she could feel was Josie.

She pulled back. Not like this, if she was going to be with Josie it couldn’t be like this, in some body that wasn’t even her’s. The rules of consent blurred in Hope’s mind, this body couldn’t consent to kissing anyone because it’s owner was dormant and if there was one thing she knew it was that a non-consensual kiss was never the answer. She could wait, eventually, she would be back in her body then she could tell Josie the truth.

She couldn’t read Josie, she shut herself off in a way that Hope knew all too well.

She reached up and brushed the hair out of Josie’s face, tucking it behind her ear, maybe letting her fingers linger just a moment too long. “ Come on, we should really get back to the school,” she whispered before standing and leading the younger girl away.

“Don’t you think we should bring the clothes we spent all day getting?” she asked slyly, looking back at the sea of bags they abandoned on the ground.

It was Hope’s turn to blush, she had been so caught up in Josie that she’d completely forgotten all about the bags. The embarrassment was worth it though to see the breathtaking smile on Josie’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just Hope getting a semi-normal day with the girl she's crushing on... aka what she deserves


	3. Chapter 3

They all knew that when Hope got called back to New Orleans there was no telling how long she would be gone, so when she went home and returned only three days later everyone was surprised. The solution to getting her back into her own body was strangely easy, so easy that everyone overlooked it for some time. It turns out that dark Josie put her under a powerful sleeping spell, when this was finally discovered it didn’t take too long to figure out how to reverse it.

When she walked back into the school people did a double-take but it was Landon who reacted the most. He ran and grabbed her hands like nothing had changed between them, ”Hope you’re back,” he grinned, then moved in trying to kiss her. 

“What are you doing?” Hope gasped pulling away suddenly. 

“You’re normal now Hope, we can be together again. Aren’t you excited?” he was earnest and serious, with his curls falling over his eyes. It reminded her of all the times he’d promised to be loyal and stand by her forever, but things were different now. It was strange, the butterflies she used to feel around him were gone and replaced with a dull sense of pain and betrayal. 

“No Landon I was serious when I ended things, this doesn’t change anything,” a weight was lifted off her shoulders but Landon looked like she’d just kicked his puppy. “And besides I have feelings for someone else,” his mouth opened slightly like he was going to start talking again, so Hope turned and left briskly before she could say something else to hurt him.

The school watched her as she made her way to the twins’ room hoping that Josie would be there and that Lizzie would be anywhere else. Nerves suddenly overtook her at the thought of talking to Josie, she’d promised herself that when she got back into her own body she would confess her feelings to her friend, but now she was filled with dread at the thought of the possible consequences. Losing Josie wasn’t an option, even if she was rejected she would do anything to make sure that they would remain friends. 

When she got there Josie was alone sitting on her bed with her headphones on engrossed in a paper she was writing. She paused in the doorway and took a moment to just watch her, she’d missed her more than she had realized. The siphoner’s eyes snapped up to her and a grin spread across her face,” You’re back!” she exclaimed sitting up. 

Hope forced herself to stay still and not run to her. Trying to seem natural, she leaned against the door frame and smirked. “You will never guess what happened,” she sighed looking down. 

“You got your body back,” Josie guessed with a sly grin. 

“Yes but this happened after I got back to the school,” she paused letting Josie think. She glanced around the room, taking in the clothes strewn around and the desk covered in books and papers, doing anything to stop herself from staring at her best friend. 

“I got nothing,” she answered,” What happened?” her dark eyes were wide with curiosity. 

“Apparently now that I’m back in my body Landon thought that we were back together,” she thought that Josie would laugh but her face contorted and she shrunk into herself.

“Oh you’re back together again,” she mumbled, an obviously fake grin on her face,” congratulations,” 

“No actually, things between us are over for good. Crazy things like that are going to happen to me my whole life and if he can’t handle it then maybe we weren’t meant to be,” the  room was silent for a moment as the two girls just watched each other. She waited for Josie to say something or to realize Hope’s feelings for her without her actually having to say anything. She imagined this being easier, she would just see the younger girl and everything would be fine, but things didn’t seem to be working out like that so instead she just kept talking,” actually I told him that I like someone else,” Hope thought she was being completely obvious but apparently not.

“Oh-oh who is it? Someone from New Orleans?” Josie stuttered. “Well, whoever it is I’m sure they’re great,” 

Hope sucked in a deep breath trying to steady herself. Apparently she was going to have to be blunt. Normally she would have preferred to just dance around the subject of feelings until neither of them could stand it anymore, but she’d promised herself and some various family members (who were very tired of hearing her talk about Josie) that she would confess as soon as she saw her and she was a woman of her word. 

She cocked her head slightly,” is it so hard for you to believe that I could have feelings for you?” she asked her cheeks flushing as the weight of her words sunk in. Her heart skipped a beat as she heard Josie gasp, the younger girl stood up from the bed where she had been laying, wide-eyed and frazzled because of the sudden confession.

“What- what are you talking about?” Josie gasped as Hope moved closer to her. 

“I like you, Jo,” her confidence faltered as every bad possible outcome flashed through her mind,” but I understand if you don’t feel the same way,” she added on at the end trying to backtrack. 

Josie stood frozen, not saying anything as Hope spiraled down further and further into her own head. The air was heavy between them as she fought to find anything to say to fill the empty space. 

She felt like she was 14 again with a crush on a girl she could never have and the inherent need to suppress her emotions at all costs. How did this go bad so quickly, she should have known better than to think that this was going to work out well in the end, Mikaelsons didn’t get the girl. 

After what felt like an eternity Josie came back to reality and moved across the room swiftly till she was close enough to put her hand on Hope’s cheek. She closed her eyes and sunk into it, letting that feeling ground her,” Hope,” the younger girl breathed, low enough that Hope could barely hear it.

“I’m going to need you to say something more than that,” Hope replied desperate for some kind of answer,” Please,” 

She didn’t get an answer, not verbally at least, what she got was so much better. Josie grinned sweetly which almost offset the redness of her cheeks and leaned in till their lips met. It was sweet and slow and Hope felt like her world was melting around them. It ended far too soon as the younger girl pulled away, breathing heavily.”I like you too, Hope, I have since we were kids, but you already knew that,” she giggled. 

“I liked you then too,” Hope started, unsure of why exactly she was sharing this. 

“What, why didn’t you say anything,” Josie shrieked, pulling back enough to take Hope’s hands in her own.

“Well I wasn’t the most stable at the time, given that I was using a secret identity and being hunted by vampire Nazis, you know normal teenage things,” she joked. To her surprise Josie laughed, most people were very upset or uncomfortable when Hope talked about her past, but Josie practically grew up with her and knew more about the intricate details of her past than most others. Hope kissed her this time, deeper this time and all-consuming. 

“Ok, then why didn’t you say anything after you broke up with Landon?”

Strangely that was a harder question for her to answer,” I wanted to but- I don’t know I just couldn’t. It felt wrong being in a body that wasn’t mine, so I couldn’t do anything until I was me again,” 

“That is surprisingly you, even in a different body you were still you,” Hope pressed another kiss to her lips and smiled into it.

She could do that now, kiss Josie whenever she wanted, for whatever reason however big or small. It didn’t seem real. Hope grabbed Josie by the waist, pulling her closer. “Where do we go from here?” Josie asked

“I don’t know,” Hope answered honestly, her hair falling in front of her face,” but I do know that Lizzie is going to absolutely lose it.” 


End file.
